As far as I can tell, insane modes fit the beat, but there's no real rhyme or reason to how and where things are placed. However, they can be followed and flow nicely. But, they are still difficult/challenging, as well as extremely controversial and debatable

Is there some sort of guide to making these interesting insane modes? How would I go about learning this style? BEcause I can't just watch people's insane mode, because they all have a little twist on their maps.

I'm sure these twists are just branches off from the original "random placement but still flows and what not" method.

Is there a way to learn that method? Because I can always put my own twist after.

First of all, it's not random most of the time, and by not random, I mean that most people have some sort of specific style of placing notes that they usually resort to. You could say that currently, jumps are thrown around carelessly, but the flow and the positioning of the jumps are generally catered to one's aesthetic needs, and the usage of larger spacing and smaller spacing (jumps or not) follow the music.

In terms of every map being different, I would disagree that most animu maps are almost all the same in terms of flow and playstyle. I would only give "putting a twist" on maps mapped by specific people, such as Skystar (Amamiya Yuko), Colin Hou, fanzhen, RLC, tsuka, AngelHoney, DJPop, Fear (soulfear), Hollow Wings, and probably a few more. The reason being that when you play one of their maps, you pretty much know it's probably made by them, because they actually have a very specific and special way of mapping that other people aren't able to achieve. Playing all the animu maps, you really can't tell who mapped what. Nothing wrong with going along the bandwagon and mapping that way, but you won't make yourself super well known unless you truly stand out with something different. I mean that's kind of why the skystar controversy is happening right now, but personally his style makes the maps more fun to play than other ones.

"Placing random notes and making it flow" is not a method and will get you nowhere, because it is not as random as you think. It looks random, but it is placed so that it's not aesthetically displeasing. And trust me there are tons more ways to place notes in ugly ways than there are in good ways (even though there are many many ways to do it in a aesthetic way too.) idk how much you've mapped, but you probably will understand, if you haven't already, when you try to map something.

And no there is no way to learn, you can absorb some of other people's ideas and styles, but you won't truly be able to imitate it. In my latest map, I was trying to absorb some skystar to be honest into it, but it's not like I can say that I have successfully copied him and his method. I still have my own take and method on it, but I added some special elements to it.

I can only tell when Hollow Wings makes something. I guess random was just a word for the visuals of the map. So, would you say as long as it's not entirely random, and it flows/matches, it will work? (Because in the comments section, there's always someone complaining, so I just want to clarify if you can shut people up with good flow in a map)

Ah, well considering all of the animu maps are the same, (and you are not wrong at all. Now that I think about it, they look almost cloned.)
How did they all get such a similar style? Would they all just copy some common route?

Also, say I grasp the qualities of insane modes, how would I go about extra modes? Is it just a glorified/overmapped insane mode?

Disclaimer: I've never mapped more than 26 seconds of a song and do not claim to be good at mapping.



You're thinking about this the wrong way. A good mapper will put down an object in a certain spot because to them it fits there based on the song and other objects in the map. To say that you want a map to be "not entirely random" is minimizing the work of good mappers.

Be aware of how loud/intense a song/part of a song is. Be aware of what types of sounds there are in the song. Be aware of which rhythms are going on in the song and think about which you would like to map to most closely. Then take those things and try to decide where and when you can place circles and sliders to most closely match the feel you're getting from the song. Does what you're mapping call for high spacing or low? Fast sliders or slow? Angular patterns or more rounded patterns? How do you want the patterns to look? etc. If your map is good, there will be people who like it. If your map is creative or different, there will be people who dislike it. Don't worry about them. If you make your map boring and generic, people will hate it too; they're just less vocal about it because shitty boring maps are already a plague in osu!, unlike creative and innovative maps, which are somewhat of a rarity. You may only recognize HW maps for now, but mappers like RLC and fanzhen and skystar (among others) definitely have their own style that you'll come to appreciate, especially when you start trying to map and realize just how difficult it is to do what they do as well as they do it.

Generic anime maps all seem the same because they pretty much are. It's an uninteresting mapping style that generates boring maps. It's easy to map like that and it results in a map that technically fits the song because differences in the song are smoothed over into nothing. It's the result of taking less information specific to the song into consideration when mapping and it makes every map like it feel exactly the same. But hey, as long as the song is a tv size anime song it'll get ranked anyway.

An "extra" is just a harder map. It can be an overmapped insane, but if you overmap specifically to make a map more difficult, it will suck. Don't do that. Use bigger spacing, map more difficult rhythms, use tougher patterns, etc. Whatever works for you. If you can't map a good extra for a song, don't.

If you want to learn about mapping, play a wide variety of maps and try making your own maps. Your first attempts at mapping probably won't come out how you wanted them to, but you'll learn what does and doesn't work for you so you can make something better the next time.

Ah, I see. You seem to know quite a bit for not having mapped more than 26 seconds of a song.

I think you cleared it up a lot. Insane modes always looked a bit random, but with all of the stuff going on at once, I probably couldn't tell.

Is it possible for someone who can't play insane (kind of like me) to make an insane difficulty? Assuming it won't be as good as someone who can?

What if I can at least follow the patterns I make? Does that entirely count?

I've been interested in an insane modes and how to make them, so do bare with me, I will get it eventually ^^;

you can map an insane mode, but it's often time harder to truly understand the flow of the map and the way it plays without being able to play the map yourself. you can always ask for test plays from more experienced players to give their opinion, but this is also unhelpful much of the time since most of the experienced players don't know much about mapping either. though there are still quite a few good players who also do know about mapping as well.

do you think an artist could paint a masterpiece with his eyes blindfolded? Being able to see what you're painting so you can change it in visually appealing ways is just as important as being able to play a map and change it in ways that play better.

In particular, those unique maps are often playtested the most heavily, since those have a lot of parts that, when done correctly, the song is moving the players hand more than reading the notes is. Maps that you just go through the motions and click the circles on and all feel the same has become synonymous with tv size animu openings because thats where its most prevalent because those songs are pretty monotone with few and if there are any, slight changes in tempo and rhythm. It's also most commonly mapped because that makes them EASY to map.

That said, Fanzhen's maps are wonderful, New Gravity's streams gave me warm fuzzies while playing them.

Judging by what you think of insanes, you are not ready to map them as a player because you aren't good enough to properly read and feel them yet. play moer.

winber1 wrote:

you can map an insane mode, but it's often time harder to truly understand the flow of the map and the way it plays without being able to play the map yourself.

i've been preaching this for as long as i can remember. i seriously recommend to anyone looking to get into mapping to at least be able to play what you want to map, which means don't start out mapping the next big black or scarlet rose.

now whenever i bring that up, there is always somebody that say "x maps perfectly and s/he cant play at all!" and thats fine, there always exceptions to stuff like that. however, the easiest way to become "fluent" in mapping is to also be "fluent" in playing if that makes sense